This document outlines an activity called the "Sales Puzzle" which aims to explore collaboration and competition within a team. Participants take on the roles of four district sales managers and must determine each manager's district, highest selling sector, and second, third, and lowest selling sectors based on clues provided without directly sharing the clues. The debriefing questions afterward are meant to evaluate leadership, communication strategies, problem-solving techniques, and how the team handled differences of opinion during the collaboration and competition.

1. SALES PUZZLE

2. SALES PUZZLE 1
Objectives
 Explore collaboration and competition
 Observe problem-solving behavior & strategies
 Tune in to effectiveness of team interaction
 Identify areas for improvement

3. SALES PUZZLE 2
Background
 4 sales districts : NE, NW, SE and SW.
 4 sectors : Commercial, Distribution, Industrial, Government.
 4 district sales managers : Grey, Blue, Black, White.
 At their last quarterly meeting, they found that the highest
sales in each sector came from a different district.
 All 4 districts won a 2nd and 3rd place award and each sales
manager came last in a different category.

4. SALES PUZZLE 3
Instructions
 Determine the sales district each manager works in
 Find the highest sales sector for each manager
 Find the 2nd, 3rd and lowest sales sectors
 Each team member will receive 1 or more clues
 Share the information verbally
 Do not allow other members to read your clues
 Observers monitor the team members using the worksheet

5. SALES PUZZLE 4
Debriefing
 Did anyone assume leadership?
 How were clues communicated to the team?
 What techniques or strategies were used to solve the
problem?
 What effect did collaboration and competition have on
team effectiveness?
 How did you handle differences of opinion?

6. SALES PUZZLE 5
Key
rank
NE
Black
SE
White
NW
Blue
SW
Grey
1 commercial distribution GOVERNMENT INDUSTRIAL
2 INDUSTRIAL GOVERNMENT distribution commercial
3 DISTRIBUTION industrial COMMERCIAL government
4 government COMMERCIAL industrial DISTRIBUTION